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Posted January 12, 2014 02:00 pm

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fourth-floor balcony collapses at Philadelphia home; one dead, two injured

Firefighters gather in an alley Sunday after a fourth-floor balcony collapsed late Saturday at the historic John C. Bell building in the Rittenhouse Square section of Philadelphia, killing a young man and injuring two women, police said. Police say a 22-year-old man who suffered severe head and neck injuries in the fall was pronounced dead at a hospital early Sunday morning. The two women are in their 20s and suffered broken bones in their backs. They are listed in stable condition at two city hospitals. The man and two women, who were attending a birthday party, had stepped out onto the balcony to smoke cigarettes when the collapse occurred, authorities said.

PHILADELPHIA — A fourth-floor balcony collapsed during a birthday party at a Philadelphia apartment, killing a young man and injuring two women, police said Sunday.

The 22-year-old man, who suffered severe head and neck injuries in the fall late Saturday, was pronounced dead at a hospital early Sunday.

The man and two women had been attending a party in the tony Rittenhouse Square neighborhood and had stepped out onto the balcony to smoke cigarettes when the collapse occurred, authorities said.

The two women are in their 20s and suffered broken bones in their backs. They were listed in stable condition at two city hospitals.

Officials from the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections are investigating.

Shortly after the crash, the fire department said a fire escape landing had collapsed. But police said later Sunday that it was a balcony.

The crash occurred at the historic John C. Bell building, which was converted into apartments decades ago.

Built in 1906, the John C. Bell House is on the National Register of Historic Places and is named for a former Pennsylvania attorney general who lived there.